1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to food serving utensils. In particular, this invention relates to an easily storable hand-held serving utensil that can be used to grasp foods such as salad or pasta.
2. State of the Art
Utensils are often used to assist the gathering and movement of difficult to grasp foods such as salad or pasta from a serving dish to a plate. Examples include salad serving utensils and tongs. Salad utensils typically include an elongated fork and a separate elongated spoon which are used in conjunction with each other. Salad utensils generally require the use of two hands to operate except when they are formed as salad tongs.
Tongs are another example of a food grasping utensil and are typically made of a metal or plastic material and contain two elongated arms. Unlike standard salad utensils, the elongated members of tongs are generally joined at a hinge for single-handed operation. The two elongated arms may be opened and then closed about the food to grasp a quantity of food. The tongs may also include end structures to assist in the grasping of the food such as prongs, forks, or spoons.
When stored, the elongated arms of the tongs may occupy a significant amount of kitchen drawer space. Furthermore, the elongated members of the tongs may spread apart as the kitchen drawer is opened and closed to remove and insert other kitchen utensils placed therein.
Typically, the elongated arms of the tongs end at a hinged joint and may be biased to an open position that requires the user to close the tongs against the bias to collapse about food for collection. Tongs biased in this manner often include a lock to maintain the tongs in a closed position for ease of storage. Examples of locks in the prior art include clasps and clips. Furthermore, while tongs having extended arms are functionally suitable to move food, these types of tongs provide limited space for food grasping, particularly large servings of a food item.
Those of ordinary skill in the art of utensil design will appreciate that because both tongs and salad utensils require the maneuvering of food grasping members distanced from the user's hands on respective elongated members, these instruments may be somewhat awkward to use. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art the desirability of having a food serving utensil in which the user's hand is more directly in control of the grasping function and also in which larger quantities of food can be grasped than with prior art utensils.